The Experiment
by stevehatesbirds
Summary: Meet Suzanne Hewlett, a young cross-discipline grad student living with her parents. During her summer break, she is recruited by SHIELD, being promised an internship and more education. For what? She has no clue. (Prominent OFC)
1. Chapter 1

Suzanne scrolled through her iPod, looking for the perfect workout music. Choosing some EDM, she started bouncing slightly, getting ready for her workout. She slid into stretches as the drum and bass pulsed in her ear.

She finished her lunges, loosening her hamstrings, closed her eyes, and delivered a quick but powerful kick to the hanging punching bag in front of her. The old bag released a bit of dust into the air and she smiled- it had been too long.

She spent the next 30 minutes practicing her kick boxing then moved on to a near-sprint, fast run on the treadmill.

As she was sweating and swearing, breathing hard through her increased heart rat, she barely noticed someone entering the previously empty gym. She weighed the options of continuing her workout or stopping to find out what they wanted.

She chose both. Sliding off, she grabbed the jump rope lying by her feet. She started jumping and spun like a little girl doing her rhymes. Jumping, she looked at the person who had violated her favorite gym time.

It was a man with an eye-patch and a woman with her hair in a tight bun, both tall and somewhat intimidating.

Suzanne didn't take her ear buds out and continued circling to face the mirror, checking her form. She had decided they could wait.

In the moment it took her to close her eyes, she felt her ear buds being yanked. She stopped swinging and jumping, grunted, and turned back towards the duo.

"What, do, you want?" Suzanne asked in between breaths. She let out a half-grunt-half-sigh and leaned over. It had just been about time to stop but she wasn't about to let them know that, not with them in their black-all-over uniforms.

"Miss Hewlett?"

"That's," one final sigh, "me."

"Suzanne Hewlett?"

A nod.

"Lamar University?"

A nod.

"Physics and biochemistry?"

A nod.

"Working under Dr. Caldwell?"

"Excellent."

The man lifted an eyebrow, prompting Suzanne to pull a face. In far less than a moment the unknown woman was in front of her, performing a swift kick meant to trip our heroine.

Suzanne side stepped and quickly recovered from the shock. She didn't think about what was happening, only that she had to win. She didn't know what these people wanted from her, only that they didn't quite seem like the "bad guys" from the old kung-Fu movies she grew up on.

She blocked, hit, and kicked- each move with more and more intensity. The woman was a skilled and exciting opponent.

After a short amount of time, the stranger stepped back and held her hands up, "I-"she gave a deep breath, "concede."

Suzanne was thoroughly confused and it evidently showed. She grunted and turned towards her water bottle. With one instant movement she recreated the step the stranger had tried on her to begin with, the main difference being the result. The woman fell to the ground, shocked.

The man started laughing, gave his comrade a hand, and said, "You're exactly what we hoped."

Suzanne grunted, actually reached for her water bottle this time, and downed it. She looked at the pair again, shrugged, grabbed her things, and walked right past them to the door.

The man grabbed her shoulder as she passed, suddenly serious. "You're not leaving."

She rolled her neck around before paying more attention to the people in front of her and saying more words she had before, "Alright. I'll play."

The man introduced himself as Nick Fury or something like that and the woman as Agent Hill.

Fury, (it was obvious he was a man who commanded the use of his last name), asked more questions than he answered, much to Suzanne's annoyance. She evaded most of the questions but it seemed like he knew most of her expected answers anyway.

"Fine, no more questions. I see what you're doing. Now, I'll talk."

He was obviously waiting for a response, and Suzanne made him wait. He opened his eyes a little more and tilted his head down. She sighed, "Alright then."

Fury released a sigh that was more of a grunt.

"We're with an organization called SHIELD."

This caught Suzanne's attention. One of her uncles was a conspiracy theorist and she had sworn she had heard him mention SHIELD more than once.

"Alright then," she said.

"We'd like to invite you to join our ranks."

"Alright then."

Agent Hill pulled a face and exclaimed, "Can you say anything else?"

"Yeah."

Hill was quick to groan until Fury shot her a look. This time Suzanne groaned and continued speaking, "You know where I go to school, even my major and who I'm working with. Now, I don't have any social media accounts so you must have gotten this information from someone. Either you got to an acquaintance of mine or you have a reason to know this."

Fury grinned and turned to Agent Hill, "See?"

Hill smiled, "Alright then." She turned back to Suzanne.

"We have reason to believe you will be of some… use… to our operations."

Now it was Suzanne's turn to smile, like a dog that knows it's guilty of something, "Alright then." She was bent on aggravating Hill and seemed to be succeeding. No one attacked Suzanne and got out of it without a few quips, even if the attacker was quite obviously asked to do it.

The sun had begun to rise and its gilded light seeped through the blinds, leaving Fury and Agent Hill with an aura around their bodies. Suzanne smiled her first real smile since the strangers had interrupted her workout.

"Okay. Talk to me while I finish this up."

Agent Hill began explaining the organization they wanted Suzanne to work with in rather vague details. SHIELD, the organization lead by Nick Fury, was a counterterrorism and intelligence agency. And that was it. No more information for Suzanne. Not even what it stands for, so she asks.

"We are the Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement and Logistics Division."

"Oh."

"For Christ's sake, are you coming with us or not?" Agent Hill was obviously irritated.

Suzanne shrugged, "Sure. Why not?"


	2. Chapter 2

"For Christ's sake, are you joining us or not?" Agent Hill was obviously irritated.

Suzanne shrugged, "Sure. Why not?"

Suzanne continued, "Of course, I don't have much of a choice, do I?"

Fury laughed again, Suzanne automatically mused that he laughed quite a bit. He composed himself, "You always have a choice, even if it's a stupid-ass choice."

"You sound like my 10th grade English teacher plus that guy from Pulp Fiction."

Another laugh, and then an explanation, "You'll need to leave your school. We have an internship in place for you. Once your training is complete-"

"Training?"

"Yes, Miss Hewlett. SHIELD is an international DOD department," Fury paused then continued, "Are you done now?"

Suzanne lifted the left corner of her mouth and shook her head 'no'.

"Good. Where was I? Oh yes, training. Once your training is complete you will be allowed to return to school, albeit one SHIELD will appoint you to."

"Give me a second."

Thankfully, it was summer and she hadn't committed to another year.

She thought of her parents. Her mom wouldn't be happy with her leaving school for any amount of time, but she would be quite glad Suzanne found a job, even if she couldn't know what it was. Her dad would be proud of her and would only hope she would make some friends at some point.

She was instantly rather glad she barely had friends. Less good-byes. She had an idea that she wouldn't be seeing her home and family for a while.

Suddenly, she remembered her younger brother, Max. With that thought her excitement diminished. He was 16 and having a tough time with high school. Christ, who didn't?

Hill noticed this sudden doubt, "it's your brother, isn't it?"

"God, is nothing sacred?"

"We know you. And you'll know us," was Hill's response.

Fury spoke next, "And your brother? Tell us about him." Before Suzanne could say anything, Fury interrupted, "Later."

And that was that, Suzanne would become an agent- but first, wrapping up her situation.

##

"Max, I wanted to tell you first."

"What is it, Suze?" Max was a quiet, calm child. His creativity, particularly in writing, often made him an outcast in the science magnet school their mother had basically bribed him into.

"I'm going away for a while and I won't be able to call you like I do. I can't tell you much else."

"What? Suze, you can't-!" Max sighed, "Suze, why?"

"I, I got an internship and I won't be able to keep in contact for a while."

Max was stunned but quickly hid it. "Oh, um, okay. But not forever, right?"

Suzanne knew her brother well and instantly recognized his misgivings. The break in his voice in his question though… She wrapped him in her arms, "You got this, Max." And she really hoped he did.

##

"Mom, Dad- I need to talk to you about something. I'm not asking for your permission. I'm doing this."

Her mother looked at her, and, almost imperceptibly, rolled her eyes. Suzanne had never been particularly close to her mother- she was manipulative and rude. Suzanne was particularly close to her father, and he was the one to say anything,

"What is it, kiddo?"

Suzanne smiled; she loved it when he called her 'kiddo'.

"I got an internship."

"Wow, that's great!" A pause.

Her mother rolled her eyes again, "What's it for?"

Suzanne was slightly exasperated at this point, "I can't tell you." Again with the eye rolls.

Her father was the first of them to respond, automatically accepting that his daughter had her reasons. "When do you start?"

"I'm just about finished packing, I leave tonight."

"Oh, wow! Well, we'll miss you. But you'll call right?"

Suzanne was suddenly sheepish, "I can't. At least, not at first."

"We trust you," her father said as he nudged his wife and made a pleading smile. She groaned and simply said, "Yeah."

##

Suzanne returned to her room to complete her packing.

She had been told not to bring much. Wherever she was going didn't have much space. She realized instantly, she had no clue where she was going. For all she knew Fury and Agent Hill weren't actually from SHIELD (again, she had a sudden thought- does SHIELD even exist?) and were organ harvesters!

"Christ!" Suzanne swore.

She heard her mother shouting at her not to take the 'Lord's name in vain!' Suzanne groaned.

Someone knocked at her closed door. It was Max. She smiled and let him in. She decided to ask her brother what he thought.

"Max, one word from you and I'll stay. It's up to you. Should I stay?"

"Oh man, Suze…" he paused for a second, "No, go. Please. I can handle myself. This is important to you. Even if you don't know it, I can see it. And, you know what? It's important to me too."

Suzanne unexpectedly understood her brother was so much more mature than she had ever known. With that understanding, she decided if her brother could be brave in the face of the unknown coming school year, she could be brace in the face of a few strangers.

As he sat with her, she laid out all her clothes and neatly folded her favorite jeans and a few t-shirts. She rolled up most of her underwear and folded her bras in half. Once her underwear draw was completely empty, she accidentally tapped the bottom of it. It sounded hollow.

"Huh," Max heard it too. Suzanne grabbed an emery board that was sitting on her wardrobe and used it to pry open the bottom.

At this point Max was standing next to her, and he looked in, "A false bottom! Didn't you say this thing used to be Dad's?"

"Yeah…"

They found newspaper clippings and what seemed to be an old diary.

"This stuff must be from when Dad was in graduate school."

They gently removed the old papers and set to reading them. Every single one was about atrocious research on humans, particularly by the Nazi scientists. They outlined the sickening things the prisoners had gone through. Suzanne felt sick, she had taken a class about WWII history in high school but her teacher didn't go this far into it.

She pushed away the clippings and opened the diary.

_The Journal of William Charles Hewlett_

_Age 24_

_STAY OUT_

Suzanne smiled, forgetting what she had read for a minute. This was so like her father, writing like an elementary school student, in subject and in penmanship.

She flipped to a random page and a strip of picture, like from that machine at the mall, fell out. The man in the photo was very obviously her father, but the woman was a complete stranger to Suzanne and Max. But she looked familiar.

The last picture on the strip was of her holding up her left hand to the camera. It was at this point Suzanne realized her father and the woman were in formalwear and the woman had a wedding band on her ring finger.

Max was the first to say something, "Huh, that woman looks like you."

Suzanne came to the sudden theory. Perhaps the reason her 'mother' was so annoyed with Suzanne was because- "No, we can't come to any conclusions."

"Well," Max said, "before that, let's look for evidence in his diary."

They looked at the open page where they found the pictures.

_August 21, 1990_

_Maria is pregnant._

_Christ, how did this even happen? We've always been so careful…_

_Max was obviously grossed out and Suzanne pulled a face at him, "Where did you think you came from?" He bounced his head side-to-side, and motioned for her to continue reading out loud._

_August 22, 1990_

_I bought a ring._

_August 25, 1990_

_She said 'yes'!_

_When I found out she was pregnant I was horrified._

_Now I can't imagine why._

_We're young and it isn't going to be easy but I love her and she loves me!_

_If it's a girl, we'll name her Suzanne._

_If it's a boy-_

Suzanne couldn't read any more, the woman she had called mother her whole life, a Hannah, not a Maria, wasn't her mother.

"Christ…"

Evidently Hannah heard her, even when she was quiet about it. Suzanne heard steps coming up the stairs. She rolled her head around waiting for the worst. When her father opened the door, she realized she had never been so happy to see him. After a second, her eyes opened wide and she looked at the diary she was holding in her hand- the diary of the man standing in front of her. She quickly put it behind her back.

"Is that…? Oh God… Did you, did you read that?"

"Yes," said Max, always the blunt one.

It was Suzanne's turn to say something, "Who is Maria?"

"Let's get your mother up here," their father said sheepishly.

"She's not my mother. She never has been," Suzanne asserted.

Her father sighed. "Alright, kiddo. I guess I have some explaining to do."

Just as their father was about to start, Max's watch beeped, "Crud, I have to go to soccer practice!"

Suzanne saw right through him, even if their father didn't- Max wanted to leave them alone. He left, abandoning his sister, even as she pleaded at him with her eyes. He was always one to leave awkward situations. She knew he would go grab a book, walk to a 7-11, get some Red Vines, and spend a few hours relaxing in the park.

"Oh, okay," their father said.

Suzanne looked at her father pointedly. "Who, is, my, mother?"

He sighed, "To use a cliché: my first love."

"That's not the answer I'm looking for. Why was I raised to believe someone else entirely, Hannah, was my mother?"

"Maria worked with me-" Suzanne's father began to spin the story of Suzanne's mother.

_William and Maria worked together in their lab during grad-school. It was love at first sight for Suzanne's father, but her mother came over more slowly. After months of him asking her to dinner every Friday night, she said 'yes' for the first time. From there the relationship went so fast, to the point where she became pregnant and they married. They continued working as the Suzanne grew in her mother's womb. _

_When Maria was past due, she discovered a paper on something called the 'Super Soldier Serum'. It was hidden deep in the barely used biochemistry library on campus. She became obsessed with it, dedicated to recreate it._

_Without anyone's knowledge, not even telling William, she spent long nights working to figure out the puzzle, all against her doctor's advice._

_One night, she was testing the serum on a rat and it worked! The rat grew muscles and began bigger, stronger, and more adaptable. _

_Suzanne's father learned all of this from her unpublished journal articles but he was present for the rest._

_William walked in as she was excitedly writing her findings. Surprised she crushed the syringe full of the serum in her hand. The serum entered her blood stream and she suddenly fell to the ground. _

_He called an ambulance as he tried to wake her up. Her body was transforming right before his eyes. _

_Almost at the hospital, Maria's breathing and heart beat stopped. The serum was too much for her body._

_William's first love died while he held her hand._

_The doctors performed an emergency caesarian and Suzanne was born._

Suzanne was quiet for a moment, her mother died even before her daughter was born. But then she spoke, "I have no mother?"

"You have Hannah, kiddo. She loves you, I'm sure of it."

"And… Max and I aren't full siblings?"

"No. Max is my and Hannah's child."

"I am anything but Hannah's child."

They had been involved with the story and neither Suzanne nor her father noticed Hannah enter the room. She was furious.

"I gave you food. I gave you a roof. This is how you repay me? "

"Is that all love is to you? Were you never fond of me? I've never heard you say you love me! I can't think of a single time you hugged me, or even touched me in a kind way!" Suzanne was shouting by this point.

"Get out. Get out of my house. Finish your packing, whatever you don't take, you'll never see again. And _my_ son? You'll never see him again either."

"Hannah, darling," Suzanne could tell her father was trying to calm down his wife, "that will punish Max as much as Suzanne."

"He needs to learn his place, this is a lesson. It will build character."

It was Suzanne's turn to roll her eyes. With that, her 'mother' stormed out of Suzanne's room. Her father looked at her and said, "We'll figure this out. For now…" he opened his wallet and handed her what cash he had, "take this. I'll find a way to get more to you. You have some money saved, right?"

Suzanne nodded her head, fighting off tears- she might never see her brother or father again.

He helped her finish packing and took a few things to the attic for safekeeping until her step-mother forgave, or, more likely, forgot.

Her father gave Suzanne one final hug and waved to her as she exited the house that had been her home all her life.

As she reached the sidewalk of her cul-de-sac her phone started buzzing. She pulled it out of her pocket but as soon as it was in her hand, it stopped. She groaned and walked to the bus stop down the road.


End file.
